Shelui road crash death toll rises to ten

TANZANIA: THE number of people killed in a road crash at Malendi village on the Iramba/Igunga border, along Singida – Mwanza Road on Wednesday has reached ten.

According to Medical Officerin-Charge at Igunga Hospital, Dr Melchades Magongo said they received two injured passengers (a mother and her three-year-old child). Dr Magongo said the child was treated and discharged but the mother was diagnosed to have broken ribs and therefore, referred to Nkinga Hospital for further treatment.

However, Dr Tito Chaula from Nkinga Hospital has confirmed that the lady passed away while receiving treatment.

Reports from Acting Kiomboi Hospital District Medical Officer (DMO), Dr Daniel Paul said he received three injured passengers, where out of them; two were referred to Singida Regional Referral Hospital.

Nine others were admitted to Shelui dispensary and they are doing well. Medical Officer-in-Charge for Singida Regional Referral Hospital, Dr David Mwasota said the institution received eight passengers, who sustained multiple injuries, two died, one was referred to Benjamin Mkapa Referral Zonal Hospital in Dodoma for further medical attention.

On Wednesday, nine people lost their lives, seven of them on the spot, after the bus they were travelling on from Dar es Salaam to Mwanza was involved in a road crash at Malendi village on the Iramba/Igunga border, along Singida – Mwanza highway. Acting Singida Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Pipi Kayumba said here that the accident occurred on Wednesday morning in a Ludigija Express bus that was plying between Dar es Salaam and Mwanza.

He said that the driver of the bus with registration number T315 CXX travelling from Dar es Salaam to Mwanza rammed into a defective cargo truck with registration numbers T485 DBR and its trailer T235 DSE, whose driver was Mohamed Alli (54), a resident of Dar es Salaam.

ACP Kayumba told reporters here that the driver of the ill-fated bus vanished from the scene of the crash, saying police force has mounted a manhunt to trace his whereabouts.

He said that the bodies of those who lost their lives are preserved at the Igunga District Hospital, while the eight injured passengers are admitted at the Igunga and KiomboiIramba district hospitals and Singida Regional Referral Hospital.